Hogwarts Legacy has generated $1.3 billion in sales

The massively successful RPG has reportedly surpassed $1.3 billion in total revenue, according to the CEO of its publisher, Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav.

The details:

• Last week, during SVB MoffettNathanson's inaugural technology, media, and telecom conference call (via SeekingAlpha), Zaslav revealed that the game had generated over $1.3 billion in revenue, making it the year's fastest-growing game. Last month, Warner Bros. released its Q1 2023 financial results, which revealed that the title's retail sales totaled more than $1 billion, not including digital sales or those from previous-generation releases on Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This is expected to increase when the Nintendo Switch port becomes available in November.
• Zaslav stated that the management’s decision to allow extra development time by scrapping its original 2022 release schedule was the right move in the long run, as the additional 10-month period allowed Avalanche Software to "get it right." He went on to explain, "We don't want to put a movie or a game out unless we think it's our best work. Even if we do that half the time or 2/3 of the time, it's not going to work. But that's the new cultural philosophy of the company. We're a storytelling company. The best creatives fight to make our content the best it can be."
• Some may be surprised by Hogwarts Legacy's success, given that its launch was marred by controversy over comments previously made by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling. Despite community issues, including harassment from some opponents of the game, the title received praise from both critics and fans for its lack of online-only live service elements, fun gameplay, and overall polish.

More industry numbers:

• The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the fastest-selling Zelda game of all time, selling 10 million units in its first three days of release. It is also the second-best-selling Zelda game, trailing its predecessor, Breath of the Wild, which sold 30 million copies in its six-year run.
• The Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia is said to have purchased more shares in Electronic Arts (EA) over the last quarter, bringing its ownership stake to around 9%. The PIF previously owned 16.01 million shares in the company, which had grown to 24.81 million by the end of March 2023.